In speaking of the upcoming electoral process, Donald Trump said, "We view this as war."
Not a discourse on the future of the country. Not a competition of ideas and ideals. Not a presentation of strategies or political prowess. War.
War is a terrible thing and it is a very serious thing. To equate a national debate, or a workplace conflict, to war is indeed a grievous misuse of the word and concept.
As unfortunate as it may be that there may be a time and place for true war, that time or place is certainly not in a democracy in which we are supposed to be having civil debates. Nor is war appropriate for the workplace.
Individuals may take pride in their boasting and bearing of weapons; but certainly in the workplace it is not something that is positive. War is not about building; it is about tearing apart. War is not productive; it is destructive. War is costly. And as we have witnessed in our own history, even if one is on the "winning" side; there is a substantial price to be paid for years to come for that victory.
Nonetheless there are those who declare "war" when there isn't one. We should be highly suspect of these individuals - usually the motives are self-serving and not in the best interest of the whole.
So if you hear someone at your workplace say they are going to declare war on someone within the company, you may advise them that minimally, it is a error of semantics and grossly, it is an error of strategy. What we want in the workplace is positive production (and we should desire that for our national politics as well).
I once interviewed someone from a rival company who described their company culture as "running gun battles in the hallways."
That company no longer exists.
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My book "Courageous Questions, Confident Leaders" is available for e-readers, PCs and tablets from Amazon Kindle.
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